


11

by Ahcutiemonster



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2020-10-04 01:57:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20463155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ahcutiemonster/pseuds/Ahcutiemonster
Summary: Lelouch Vi Britannia has no interest in being discovered. His life is okay-ish the way it is. Living with the Ashfords isn't all that bad regardless of how many times Milly busted into his room randomly and no amount of changing the locks makes a difference. Nunnally seems happy, well as happy as a kid in this situation can be , and even though the eyelid tape and the contacts get a little annoying at times it's better than if the general Britannia public found out the half Japanese prince and princess were still alive and well. The actual prince of Japan is fully aware though.But deep down inside he know that the current state of Japan just is not acceptable. He needs to figure out how to save it, and fast.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I actually wrote this story on ff.net but in a different way back when I was a kid . So if the storyline sounds familiar hey how's it goin'?

Lelouch's eyes watered as he blinked rapidly for a moment. The eye drops always helped a little bit, but he was sick and tired of having to wear dark brown eye contacts. Why he got the same genetic mutation of his mother, he doesn't know. He loved it as a kid and how people would call him baby Aiko or baby Marianne , but now that he has to live in constant hiding it's becoming a bit tedious.   
Now Lelouch thankfully naturally had double eyelids but see, he still had to wear eyelid tape to deter any "wow you look just like him!" comments or any " wait are you are a mutt?" comments especially. The while world saw the body of Lelouch Vi Britannia BeInG carried out lifeless by his torn brother Schneizel, they most likely will just continue to assume he's a Lelouch Baby, which are the influx of sons with dark hair and pale skin born after the birth of the actual prince and named after him. Just a very, similar looking Lelouch Baby. But if he were to be found out to be half Japanese or half eleven it'd be a disaster.  
Lelouch gathered his things for the day and walked over to Nunnally's room to reassure that she's all set for her home schooling. His baby sister does not know yet that Suzaku is might have realized that his childhood friends are still very much alive. Lelouch wasn't sure yet but Suzaku would have most definitely lost it if he knew that that was Lelouch the day he met C.C . He is pretty sure Suzaku reacted so shocked and protective out of the pure alarm of seeing someone who looks so similar yet so different. Now that Suzaku is going to Ashford Academy it's only a matter of time until they figure out where this was going.

"Hey! " Milly yelled out after talking animatedly to Lelouch for the past fifteen minutes while crossing the bridge between the Ashford Manor and Ashford Academy. 

Lelouch looked over at her startled, mostly because he didn't even realize that time had passed and just how deep in his own thoughts he was.

"Lelouch what is your deal lately? You're quite, well I mean you're always quite but right now you're super quite" she said holding the word super for a moment.

"I'm fine I'm just... thinking."

"You know for a 15 year old you gotta lotta deep thoughts"

Lelouch rolled his eyes, "Not all of us see spend all day talking about boys and forcing their friends to run errands Milly. Besides you know why I'm always thinking like this."

Milly dramatically gasped, "Lelouch did you just admit we're friends ?" Yelling loud enough that the entire hallway leading up to Lelouch's homeroom heard and the other students laughed at Milly's ridiculous antics to bother Lelouch this morning.

Lelouch went ahead and groaned and walked into his first period. He had first, then second and the his rotating blocks afterwards with a thirty minute lunch break that he'll be sharing with Nunnally and Rivalz.

Rivalz swung an arm over Lelouch who was sitting at his usually desk by the window. It was early morning in the fall and the sun was just barely rising. 

"Ya know if you read to much you'll go blind".

"Then you must have 20/20 perfect vision don't you"

" Hey! " Rivalz yelled out in faux offense, "I read sometimes" 

"Fanfiction doesn't count"

Rivalz protests about how "It does too!" were interrupted by the teacher walking in with an eleven student trailing behind him. That was the kid they almost executed wasn't it? Akko from KoKo Hime's kid. The students all gasp and murmured to one another about a fallen prince, a pop singer's son and a few racial slurs thrown here and there because apparently why not?

Their homeroom teacher cleared their throat, "Students, we have a new eleven student at our school." Which made the population go up to five at a school that was originally Japanese and owned by the royal family. "This is Su... Su Say.... Su sah koo...Su-"

"My name is Suzaku Kururugi, it's nice to meet you all"

The teacher gave the students a look to clap and say hello to the new student. Many just glared and looked the other way and others muttered out a disinterested hi. Their teacher cleared their throat once more. "Apologizes, go ahead and have a seat." 

Lelouch rolled his eyes at the concept that this teacher did not know exactly what she was doing. Suzaku's name is one of the most well known in the world. He's not some nobody he's the one who should be on the throne of Japan currently with Sensei by his side as his advisor since his mother is no longer with them. Everyone knew who Suzaku was, they were all there when his birth was announced. They were all there when Suzaku and Lelouch were in the last music video KoKo Hime ever made in mourning of the two most desirable Japanese young women being shackled to the sides of a man who isn't even royalty stealing a thrown given to him by his white master Charles zi Britannia. 

They were trying to humiliate him , treat him like he's no one. 

Class carried on, one are two students tried to trip Suzaku on the way to his seat but seeing as how Suzaku is far more agile compared to everyone else in the room he simply kicked their feet on "accident". If there's one thing Lelouch remembered about Suzaku is that he was very proud of being Japanese, and rightfully so.

Lunch finally rolled around and Lelouch, Rivalz and Nunnally all sat in a common area that looks out onto the campus park. Rivalz and Nunnally had been talking about if hamburgers were actually German or American, which Lelouch had concluded that it's technically both , when he saw Suzaku walking over to the water basins outside. His clothes were covered in some sort of substance and he removed the jacket and his shirt to clean off. 

"I'll be right back" he announced and quickly walked to the student council room and then walked back to the common room and down the stairway in the corner of the room. 

The birds seemed just as annoyed at Suzaku was with their chatter and Lelouch had been distracted by the fact that, Suzaku didn't look like that when he was ten let's just say that.

"Hey" Lelouch approached

Suzaku paused for a moment and looked up and gave a smile.

"Hey" Suzaku looked down at the fresh new school uniform in Lelouch's hands.

"I thought I'd bring you something to change into. I saw you from the common room. 

"Oh...thanks."

Lelouch nodded his head.

"I'm Lelouch Lamperouge by the way" he reached out his hand to shake Suzaku's.

Suzaku ringed out his shirt, dried his hands on the non dirty parts of his pants and reached out to grab Lelouch's wrist and slightly push up his sleeve.

Lelouch , startled , began to ask Suzaku what he was doing but was quickly interrupted by Suzaku's question.

" Where's your bracelet?"

"My what?"

"You're bracelet."

"I don't know what you're-"

"Lelou, you can't not wear you're bracelet how are people supposed to know we are married"

"What?"

"I spent all night making that bracelet ya know" 

" I'm-"

" And here I thought I had a faithful wife but apparently you've been stepping out on me and making Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bento boxes for other men I'm hurt. "

Lelouch took a moment and sigh trying to force down a smile while rolling his eyes , " first of all we were never married you've just been a pervert since birth" Suzaku started to protest but Lelouch kept going, "second of all, how did you know?"

Suzaku playfully rolled his eyes, "You really think you can fool me of all people? I mean your eyes threw me off ,not gonna lie, but I'll always recognize you Lulu. Plus Sensei, Yumi and I all knew you were still alive anyway. I think Sensei's been stalking you to be honestly but you are the kids of his only love so I guess it makes sense."

Suzaku finished changing and Lelouch leas him towards the stairwell to the common area. Lelouch figures he'd be horrified to know that someone other than the Ashfords knew who he was but to be honest he felt a sense of relief. How he was going to tell Nunnally he didn't know.


	2. A Bit Strange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lelouch and Suzaku fill in the blanks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have anything to do today until later so I'll write another chapter. The first one was so short because I thought I was leaving the house in a bit.

Lelouch led everyone expect for Rivalz to the student council room. Rivals thankfully got distracted and ran off when Lelouch and Suzaku returned because of the announcement that there's free servings of shaved ice in the cafeteria. Lelouch knew the student council room was one of the only spaces that wouldn't have audio being recorded and only student council members were allowed in. Nunnally was wheeled over to the couch that Suzkau and Lelouch sat on. 

After being deep in her own thoughts on the walk over Nunnally finally spoke up, "So you know who we are ? Wait so you're our Suzaku right ? There can't be any other. "

Suzaku pet the top of Nunnally's head and Nunnally immediately brightened up with the wonderful realization that it wasn't some confusing scenario but instead her long lost friend was really reunited with them again. Lelouch smiled at that and held her hand.

"Can I?" She said in her small voice as she reached out her hands to Suzaku's face. He moved closer so she could run her hands along his facial features in an attempt to see the difference between nine year old Suzkau, ten year old Suzaku and fifteen year old Suzaku. The last she actually saw him with her own eyes was when he was nine at the Royal Spring Festival. Right when the Kururugi family were removed from their title as royalty. 

She laughed a bit to herself.

"What?" Suzaku tilted his head .

"Your head's a lot bigger and I didn't even think that was possible."

The three laughed collectively and Nunnally's alarm signifying her need to return to the Ashfords home for her studies was what finally cut them off. Nunnally's nurse arrived shortly after , once Lelouch had texted their location in the school. Nunnally playfully chastised Suzaku to make sure he paid attention to his studies and to not give Lelouch a hard time as she was wheeled out resulting in Suzaku yelling that he was a good student when he felt like it and Lelouch is the brat , not him. 

"Well, does Sensei know that you're here?" 

Suzaku laughed and scoffed all at once, "Of course he does that man is like a ninja."

"Isn't he technically samurai? Historically that's what his family has been to yours". Lelouch stood up to prepare the table for the free period that they have. He liked to use the student council room to either gamble with chess matches online or read. He didn't need to study much and when he did it was usually him just reviewing right before a test. 

Suzaku pulled out a deck of cards from the bookshelf under the window sill. "Nawh, he's more like a ninmurai. Like a ninja and samurai love child."

Lelouch face palmed but was also feeling nostalgic as he had missed the stupid banter between the two of them. Nunnally always said that they behaved like an old married couple. 

"Some Ninja's were samurai Suzaku and that includes the Kagame family."

Suzkau paused shuffling the cards, "Wait they were?"

Lelouch slapped his friend lightly on the back of the head and said friend exaggerated his pain and clutched onto the back of his head repeating "ouch" in Japanese several times in a row. 

"You see this is why Sensei likes me more than you, I actually listened to his lessens." 

"No Sensei likes you more cause you're borderline his son and he likes to be unreasonably mean to me"

"Telling you not to be an idiot isn't him being unreasonably mean Suzaku". Lelouch qouted his friend in a mocking tone. 

"Climbing trees isn't stupid it's a right of passage" he declared and started dealing cards.

"Climbing trees where monkeys live like you're some sort of Japanese Tarzan and expecting them not to get annoyed with you eventually, is."

Suzaku was going to argue that it was totally the monkeys fault and that the Kururugi family owned that tree for centuries so technically the monkeys were on his property when a really loud blonde girl and the kid with the weird hair from earlier came in the room. He immediately just let it go seeing as how he didn't want to raise any suspicion. 

"Ah! Suzaku Kururugi! " Milly ran over and jumped onto Lelouch's childhood friend while Lelouch grimmanced knowing just how overwhelming and overly friendly his friend was. All Lelouch could do is mouth sorry while Suzaku struggled to breathe. 

"I've always wanted to meet you! Before the ban I used to watch KoKo Hime videos all the time! It's so cool your family has musical traditions! Imagine being a pop star and a princess? You get to be a real princess but then you also get to be this glam celeb that gets to be on TV and sing and stuff. I watched all , all, of the Doko De? audition show even though obviously I already knew who who would win it since lady Marianne clearly was already active in the duo before I was born but like you know what I mean. Do you sing too? Or maybe you don't since it was usually the first born princess or whatever but aw you grew up to be so cute you were such a cute baby!" 

"For the love of God Milly let the poor boy go", Lelouch finally came from behind and pulled Milly off of Suzaku and his chair giving the Japanese boy the opportunity to breathe finally , clutching his throat and couching a bit. 

"Milly turned to Rivalz and ordered him to go and get a cake from the campus bakery so that they can celebrate Suzaku's membership on the student council." 

"Membership?" Suzaku and Lelouch exclaimed and was immediately ignored by Milly giving Rivalz the money to go get the cake and told him to get Nunnally a separate slice and deliver it to her before coming back.  
Rivalz, used to being sent off on adventures for his crush, went ahead and ran off. 

Milly closed the door and turned to the two.

"It's easier to protect you from the other students if you're on the student council." 

Suzaku , not wanting to be a burden , tried to explain that he could handle himself but Lelouch had agreed with Milly's assessment. Lelouch already had to worry about having to deal with C.C , his new found Geass, and how to deal with the revolution he was currently stirring. Not only that but also worrying about the safety of Nunnally and how to set up their lives post living with the Ashfords. He didn't need to deal with the worries of Suzaku and dealing with the white supermacy at their school. They hated all Japanese people but him being the rightful Emperor to the land their parents colonized makes him a huge target. He already had to worry about Suzaku essentially being a child soldier for the Britannian government. 

"Alright , so what do I do?" Suzaku had asked looking up from the long forgotten and never even played card game on the table.

"Whatever I say basically" Milly said as she sat down in a chair accross from the two fallen princes.

Suzaku looked over to Lelouch for confirmation and his faux brown eyed friend sighed and nodded his head.

"Lelouch is our vice president! He takes over when I'm not here. Since you guys are close I'm sure you'll go to him for any issues anyway but just know I'm here to help too."

"Lelouch and I just met though?" Suzaku said naturally, already used to having to treat his dear friend like a stranger.  
"She knows who I am Suzaku" he reassured and pulled out the club tablet to add Suzaku to the official members list.  
The brunette looked over to her shocked , his eyes exhibiting curiosity.

"In the middle of the night some Britannian soliders busted into our home that was north of the Britannian Japanese residency and told us to all come downstairs and sit on the couch. And you know how gun crazy they are so we went ahead and did as they said. Then next thing you know they're dragging in an unconscious prince and a princess who we thought had a been shot to death a year ago by their hair into our home with Emperor Charles right behind them. Then Charles told my family we either watch them and ensure they never return as royalty to anyone's knowledge again or die or , we die. It was crazy but my parents like the two of them and they don't blame them for it or anything." 

"So that must've been the night you guys got taken from the Kururugi Shrine." Suzaku borderline whispered out as he put together the pieces of what had happened that night after the death of his father. That whole night had been a blur and a trauma that he often tried to forget but couldn't. Although no one was more torn and distraught over every single one of the events of that night than Sensei. That man still talks like he's failed everyone when it of course wasn't his fault. He was just fed up with not being able to protect Aiko's children.  
Lelouch nodded his head, and explained that he had woken up in a foreign bed with bruises and that Llyod Asplund had been assigned to the "readjustment of identity period" for him and Nunnally. That Llyod explained to him what their new life would be and that he had made sure he'd supervise it as his last favor to his late mother. Nunnally had only been four so being hit in the back of the back by the butt of a gun hadn't played too well with her but he was reassured that she'd be fine thankfully, although clearly still blind and numb from the waist down. Suzaku remembered hiding with his baby sister watching the two get taken away to that helicopter.

"And Charles had told us that we were moving to live in the old international housing for students for the Kururugi Royal Academy private school and that we now owned the school too. My father didn't want to but he didn't have much of a choice. My father had a degree in education but that was his second undergrad degree. He was working in archeology beforehand. That had been his passion and his thing. Not only that but he didn't really have any animosity towards Jap- elevens. That's why I was allowed to listen to KoKo Hime and play outside with the locals. We were only supposed to be here for a moment and then we were supposed to leave. But when it was announced that Ja- that Area 11 was going to be a Britannian colony anyone who was considered an asset was forced to stay. "

Suzaku nodded his head and explained that that's what happened to Llyod's assistant Cecile Croomy and that Llyod's family was also supposed to be here temporarily. Llyod's family was living nearby the school at a Buddhist temple since his mother had a PhD in religious beliefs of the East. She had been interested in learning more about how Japanese people combined Christianity , Buddhism, and Shintoism during their day to day lives. So his parents moved them to Japan for high school which is where he had encountered Aiko, Akko, Akko's boyfriend Kenta and Tenshi Sensei. 

The conversation was serious and foreboding but it really helped the three put their lives under the newly colonized Japan into context. They were still kids after all and even though they've been through more than the average adult they are at the end of the day still children, and their parents and parental figures had only so much time and strength to tell them the more intricate details of a recently lost war.

They had been sitting in silence for awhile until Rivalz busted in , huge strawberry shortcake and vanilla cake in hand in a baby pink box with a red haired girl by the name of Sherley Fenette , which Suzaku quickly learned, following close behind. 

While everyone was being served cake Lelouch went back into his thoughts. Zero, his revolutionary persona, had already done his first few missions. The conversation reminded him of his poor mother and his hope that Nunnally would be able to have a chance at the youth hood that his mother had stolen from her and that he has a officially given up also.


	3. The Token Minority

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suzaku has to deal with being treated as a foreigner in his own country and having to explain to the stupid Gaijin basic things about the place they live in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't seen Code Geass since middle school and I'm all whole college student now so I keep having to look at the code Geass wiki to try to align my story with the actual one but honestly I'm mostly gonna just do whatever I want. I have the entire story written in my head already. Thankies for the kudos.

Suzkau sighed for the fifteenth time. The teacher was talking about how elevens used to only bathe once a month and basically explained that Europeans were Japanese people's one and only hope at civilization. Students snickered and kept turning to look at the former prince. He wanted to get mad. He wanted to point out that Europeans were so disgusting that it was their greatest weapon when the colonized North America with the order to rape anybody seven and up with their fifteen thousand diseases but his dear secretly haffu friend spoke up on his own. Not only that but Suzaku really just didn't want any trouble.  
"I mean in certain areas of Europe they legally weren't allowed to bathe because bathing was considered demonic. Not only that but most aspect of hygiene learned by Europeans came from Moors, who were black. One of the reasons white europeans had gotten away with colonizing so many places is that their diseases were like a weapon all on its own. In Britannia people also drank from the same water they shit in. Not only that but women had to raise up their dresses when they walked in certain areas due to human fecal matter on the ground. I don't really think we taught elevens anything if we're going to be honest".  
The snickering stopped and the teacher switched lessons.

Suzaku was glad to be back in bed. He was angry, and hurt but he was also tired. Having to constantly deal with hate solely based off of what he looked like , what his race was, and his ethnicity was exhausting. He tired not to let it break him but he couldn't take it anymore. He was human and sometimes everything just became too much. He was hated for absolutely no reason. Projected inferiority complexes under the guise of superiority complexes given to society by the heavy hand that is always waiting in the shadows called white supermacy. And the funniest part is he doesn't even hate all Britannians and especially not all white people. Even though he had plenty of reason to he refused to reduce himself to the same level, minus the power , of his white supremacists classmates. If they hated Japanese people so much they could just pack up and get the fuck out but apparently that's not going to happen anytime soon. 

And it didn't help that he had some sort of fan girl group of white weeaboos that wouldn't go away. He was bi , not desperate. Contrary to apparently popular belief. He's getting sick of being called a "cute little Asian boy" and hearing "wow I didn't know Asian guys could be attractive" or "wow I didn't know Asian guys could be fit or masculine, you must be rare!". He's tired of "I always wanted to date one of KoKo Hime's kids". Or people turning his life into some sort of white savior fetish. It's not that he'd only date a Japanese person or an Asian person it's just, what the hell?

He groaned and shifted in his uncomfortable bed. Suzkau got put up into eleven housing for the private school during the weekdays and then the military barracks during the weekends. Llyod thankfully made it so that Suzaku can choose which ever he wanted now that he no longer has to do O' five hundred drills. He chose the eleven dorms so that his presence deters students from trying to break in and do God knows what to the other Japanese students in the building. They've had to deal with it multiple times before. A group of Britannian male students tried to attack one of the Japanese girls in her dorm by breaking the window but thankfully the other Japanese students aren't taking anything that extreme and they all collaborated together to help the girl get away and to remove them from the dorm. This happened a year or so before Suzaku showed up and he's grateful that his people stayed strong. He felt good knowing that his cousins have been at the academy since the switch to the Ashfords and their family doesn't take anyone's nonsense. They weren't blood related, the 2% relation doesn't really count. But they were descendants of the samurai Yasuke who almost had to leave Japan until he was taken under another family to serve for. His honor not being up to Bushido code was passed off as him just being forgien.

He was glad be bought blackout curtains because he didn't sleep well at night. The night is associated to the crimes of man for him, it puts him on edge. His phone vibrated on his bedside table in his tiny dorm room and he reached over to see who is was with a groan. A picture he took of Lelouch mid eating popped up and he smiled and quickly answered it. Lelouch is the only one allowed to interrupt his cocooning time. Well Lelouch ,Nunnally and maybe his baby sister Yumi...maybe...he'd give her hard time about it as payment. 

"Open the door."

"Wha? " Suzaku sat up a bit.

"Open the door before someone sees me idiot ."

Suzaku stumbled up , phone still pressed against his ear and walked to open the door.

"Lelou what are you doing in the middle of the ghetto?"

Lelouch pushed himself in, "First off we're on the edge of the ghetto, this is still Ashford Academy." Lelouch finally put down the heavy bags from the deepest pits of hell and glared at them in complete disdain. "Second of all I've come baring gifts. Third of all why are you still talking into your phone?" Lelouch pointed at the handheld device in his friend's hand. 

Suzkau quickly put it down realizing that Lelouch had hung up forever ago and also that he was right in front of him and started opening one of the bags. The bag had an expensive foam mattress pad inside. It was the best on the market and could turn the most awful bed into pure heaven.

"Le-Lelou you didn't have to do this!"

"You don't exactly have access to your family fortune and your allowance is like 100 euros a week. Take it I have plenty of money I won a 20k money match about three or four times this week I forget."

Lelouch unpacks Suzaku's things into his mini fridge that was given to him by Sensei. The dorm rooms didn't come with proper fridges and although the Kagame family didn't have access to their funds either Sensei would do random security guard jobs under the table to give money to him and his sister. Suzaku liked to call him Alfred.  
Lelouch got him plenty of meat since the freezer was surprisingly really good because it was built so that it closed properly instead of the traditional ice block shelf. He got him a basket for any fruit he bought and stored everything in their proper place. He replaced Suzaku's old hot plate with a brand new model and gave him some Korean ramyeon pots to cook his ramen faster in.  
Suzaku changed his sheets to the far more comfortable new ones and fluffed his new memory foam pillows . Lelouch had even gotten him some cleaning supplies and told him to keep the cold grocery bag so he won't have to worry about food going bad as he walked home from the store. He now has a new area rug that took up a good chunk of the middle of the room. Which was perfect being the heated floors in this building were "broken". Lelouch also got him some nice decorations for his private bathroom and some toilet paper and toilet cleaner. 

Suzaku had a small tv and a PlayStation 2 he took from the kids room at the Shrine. So thankfully he was still able to play some video games even though they were all old. Sony was forced to not have communications in Japan anymore anyway so even if he did have the money he'd have to fly to America and then somehow smuggle it into the country without getting caught. All major Japanese or Japanese affiliated corporations were driven out of Japan causing the economy to crash and solely rely on Britannian resources. They haven't had any new manga or anime since Suzaku was around six years old. Shown by the old Shonen Jump collecting dust in the corner from a time that he was their targeted demographic.  
Suzaku threw in the first multi player game he found and patted the bed for Lelouch , who brought over some Britannian snacks and sodas, to sit next to him. They had a school trip tomorrow to a nearby mountain. Suzaku was excited because after about a month of school they get to have some fun. The mountain that they were going to was famous for couples. Every September they have a fireworks show that said that if you watch from stop the mountain , alone with who you love, and you share a kiss, that you would be together forever.  
Suzaku had been teasing Lelouch a lot about ten year old Suzaku's declaration of love and admiration shortly after Suzaku got to re-know Lelouch and realized that Lelouch wasn't a symbol of the Britannian empire. 

Lelouch leaned onto Suzaku a bit.

Suzaku wondered if Lelouch took it simply as a joke or if he would ever take dating Suzaku seriously. It's dumb , since Suzaku needed to focus on all the military nonsense he was doing and if he could find a way to dismantle Britannia's occupation of Japan on the inside like the woman who should have been like an aunt to him, Lelouch's mother, once began to do. But he honestly just couldn't help himself. He knew he wasn't entitled to happiness, but he considered himself a little greedy. He had recently turned sixteen this past summer, and with Lelouch turning sixteen this upcoming December he kind of wanted them to have at least a little bit of a regular teenage romance. Well as well as a teenage romance with a child soldier and a ghost could possibly get.  
Suzaku and Lelouch made a seafood ramen that they shared while discussing aspects of their day to day lives as high school sophomores. It felt almost... normal.

"So I went ahead and just gave Milly the friggin mochi because she looked like she'd have a heart attack if she couldn't eat it" Lelouch said his royal Britannian accent slipping out instead of his standard Britannian dialect that he picked up inorder to cover his royal roots. Suzaku could never understand how someone could sound American Homeland and Australian all at the same time.

"Are you gonna make any more of 'em?"

"Most likely but not anytime soon." Lelouch has always been really good at cooking and baking and he likes to do that to make sure Nunnally keeps some aspect of her Japanese heritage in her life. His mother taught him Japanese as his second language and would make him cartoon and anime inspired bento boxes. He'd cook with her along with Schneizel too. It's some of his fondest memories. Nunnally was only four when everything happened and he just wanted to make sure the ten year old got to experience some of her culture. She loved when Lelouch would make strawberry mochi ice cream. He'd make a giant mochi that has strawberry flavoring and stuffed icecream in the inside with fresh cut strawberries. If it had been one of his famous mochi ice creams Milly wouldn't have dared to impose but it was just the last mochi in a batch that he had made. He made sure to save Suzaku some. He made him a bunch of onigiri so he can have an easy grab and go breakfast too. 

Finally Suzaku walked Lelouch home for the night and then returned back to his dorm. He smiled at how comfortable and cozy his room had suddenly become with all the new stuff and new food in it . His bed felt like he had crossed ame-no-uki-hashi, the bridge into heaven. He sighed and snuggled into his new expensive comforter. He loved Lelou but he kind of needed to take off his pants at this point. Clothes weren't exactly his favorite thing.  
Surprisingly he slept peacefully that night. 

Part II

Suzaku sighed , again, for the fifteenth time. 

"They are called Tanuki, just be careful near toilets". 

The Britannian boy students looked at him a bit confused and Lelouch just shook his head. Suza had to explain every single thing that popped up sofar during this trip to the mountain. People kept asking him what kind of fish was swimming in the streams or what kind of bird was that or why are there monkeys or what's that statue or wait did elevens really live in houses made out of paper? Like notebook paper? What if it rains?

Lelouch found it both offensive and hilarious and he didn't know how to explain how that could be a thing. Finally it was just Lelouch, Suzaku , Rivalz, Shirley, Kallen, and a girl named Violet. Violet to be honest was the only one he had a high tolerance for out of the students in his class who weren't affiliated with him personally or professionally. Shirley and Kallen weren't all that bad either. For whatever reason the other girls were obsessed with him either being with a man or them being with him because "pretty". 

"Suzaku can you explain again about the raccoons that eats people's prostates?" Lelouch teased knowing full well what he was doing and who he was actually mocking.  
Suzaku groaned and flopped into the seat at the mountain's cafe.  
Kallen chuckled "You know you could just tell them to go away?"  
Suzaku responded by groaning even louder. Which Lelouch translated to "They'd give me a harder time if I did that, it's easier to just answer their dumb , easily Naver-ed questions."

They ordered their sandwiches , pastries , coffees and smoothies. Suzaku sipped his mango and lychee smoothie while trying to calm his nerves. He really wanted to finally ask Lelouch out and start dating and he was without a doubt going to do it this trip it's just that he was nervous. He hoped Lelouch wouldn't be upset about him asking but he figured he should go ahead and try. 

"So we have the onset next? That hot tub thingy?" Rivalz asked taking a bite out of his sandwich enjoying finally being able to rest his feet. 

Suzaku laughed "You mean the hot springs? Called onsen? " 

Rivalz blushed a little bit and muttered that he was never very good at eleven speak and that his lessons had been cancelled due to the ban back in 2006. 

Kallen spoke up and explained that they'd be separated by girls and boys and that everyone is usually naked. Rivalz slammed his head down on the table.  
"Don't worry it's Britannian style, we wear bathing suits. Plus some Onsens before the occupation allowed towels for the comfort of foreigners ." Lelouch chuckled out in-between sips of his peach lavender smoothie while whipping his hands of some sauce that snuck onto the side of his hand. 

Violet , as quiet as ever, asked if Suzaku had ever been to a traditional onsen before. Suzaku explained that he had several times as a kid since there was one on the grounds of the Kururugi compound in-between the shrine and the palace. He'd go all the time before most of the land went under siege of the Britannian empire resulting in them being forced out of the palace and having to live in the shrine. 

Suzaku appreciated that his Britannian friends never acted like he was a charity case. Or gave him that "aw poor oppressed baby" look. Don't infantilize him. He was aware of his racial struggles, he had no need for anyone's racialized parentalism. They simply looked a bit annoyed at the situation but knew they couldn't say anything about it. Not only cause that may cross the line personally but legally they couldn't. Saying the words "onsen" , "onigiri" , "matcha" or anything that would be in the Japanese language other than names , even if they have Chinese origin, was technically illegal. Imagine calling out colonization. But when it comes to certain things like "onsen" it'll typically slide since it's a name of a kind of place. If they teachers were around they would've said the term "hot springs" the whole time but there's only really illegally but technically legally underpaid Japanese teens working in the cafe around. 

They all made sure to clean up after themselves and gave extra tips to the staff by handing it to them and telling them to keep it in their pocket as code for "don't tell your boss because we know they'll take it away". The two girls working thanked them perfusely , especially since Lelouch's tip was especially big for each. 200 euros for each girl. He liked to save money not just for Nunnally's future but also so that he can give to Japanese people whenever he can. He would've given more but carrying that kind of cash is dangerous , especially when they go home to the ghettos. 

Suzaku noticed and was grateful. People always said awful things about half white kids and over generalised which Suzaku grown up to acknowledge. Lelouch has always cared about his Japanese side. He knew that even when Lelouch and Nunnally had shown up at the Kururugi Shrine. It's just that, he was projecting and dealing with his issues by acting out against Lelouch at first. But he knew that his Japanese pride was pretty clear. Especially after Lelouch sung that Japanese song and then the protest song his mother and the others sang when they walked the streets in peaceful protest as teens. Suzaku remembered that Spring Royal Festival like it was yesterday.  
Prince Lelouch vi Britannia and Prince Schneizel el Britannia as his accompanist performing two Japanese songs directly after the official ban of the Japanese language. They were only about six years old at the time. Schneizel had been fifteen. Lelouch's hatered for his father developed fairly quickly.  
Of course there were haffus that were half white European who were awful with self hate issues but his Lelouch and even Nunnally were not one of those kids. They don't hide their identity out of shame but instead out of the need of survival. That is something that is very hard to judge.

The onsen was nice. It was hilarious pranking Rivalz into thinking they had no swimwear and that he had to go in naked. They had soba afterwards and laughed at Rivalz expense a little more, explaining to the girls how thye tortured the poor boy until finally it was time to climb the rest of the way up. But without the class , just him and Lelouch. The fireworks would be starting soon and he wanted to make it up in time. 

Lelouch's breathing struggled as he borderline hyperventilated while going up the mountain.

"Lelou we are literally going up stairs. Why are you so out of shape?" 

"You know I don't excerise like some sort of barbarian." Lelouch barely got out in between breathes. How he was zero Lelouch will never know. Maybe it was the adrenaline and how he most had other people do the work for him, or how he mostly stuck to being in his Knightmare. 

"Lelouch I'm gonna take you the gym one of these days." Ignoring Lelouch screaming in protest and in absolute horror and continued, "Lulu all because you have a fast metabolism doesn't mean you shouldn't excerise. You gotta do it for your digestive , cardiac and mental health too. We can out you on a treadmill and all you gotta do is walk . You can even read while you do it. "

Lelouch grunted and stumbled for the thritieth time. It was thirty , he counted. Stupid rocks. 

"Whatever the hell reason you have to force me to walk up this damn large rock spawn from hell better be good. " 

"Calm down Lelou shut up we're here. "

Suzaku set up the blankets and tent he packed in his backpack. He made sure the only teacher he liked and the only one who liked him knew exactly where the two were in case of an emergency. His teacher wished him the best. Although found it weird that he'd want to date someone who looked like his dead friend. But then passed it off as just a way of dealing with mourning that never truly passed. 

Lelouch threw himself onto the blanket and gladly took the iced cold ginger ale his best friend had set beside him. Suzaku always came prepared. He was like Mary Poppins. 

"Hmn, my whole body hurts" Lelouch said after finally rolling into his back.

"I feel great actually" Suzaku laughed at the swatting arm of his friend. 

"You know I missed you and me" Lelouch said in a nostalgic tone of voice. He sat up so that he could drink his beverage properly. "I really missed you you know. I miss Sensei and Yumi too. I miss watching him get annoyed with you. " 

"Hey" he said drawn out and elbowed Lelouch lightly on his side. "Sensei's such a grouch, don't run too fast Suzaku, stop chasing the birds Suzaku, don't jump off the top of the houses Suzaku, that man is just unreasonable." 

The two laughed and finally Suzaku took a moment to build up the courage for what he had been meaning to say. 

"Lelouch?"

"What?" he turned to look over at Suzaku

"Ya know how...when we were little... I called you my waifu all the time?"

"I'm fully aware of our illegal marriage Suza"

"Well, what if like instead of being little kid married we were like.. dating or something?"

Lelouch stopped for a moment a bit shocked but in the best kind of way. He wasn't sure if he should take up a partner in the middle of causing a civil war but if it had to be with anyone it'd be with Suzaku. He'd always really liked Suzaku or as that old nineties cartoon would say "like liked " him. He felt safe to be himself with Suzaku and he is one of the very few that he'd trust to watch over his beloved baby sister. Lelouch noticed that he had been quiet for far too long and that it was scaring his friend. 

Lelouch did something that he hadn't done in years, he fully smiled. From ear to ear Lelouch vi Britannia finally gave that smile that Suzaku had been worried was long gone. He laughed for a moment and finally answered him.

"I'd like that... I'd like that a lot actually. " 

Suzaku could not even believe what he was hearing. Lelouch had actually said yes and looked ecstatic that Suzaku had even mentioned it.

"Great ! " Suzaku said just a little bit too loud as he made himself jump back a bit at the sound of his own voice causing Lelouch to bust out laughing. Popping noises were suddenly heard and Lelouch calmed himself down and looked up.

"Look Suzaku the fireworks are starting."

If dealing with the Britannian students being idiotic was the price to have this moment right now then so be it. His first kiss with Lelouch was exactly how he dreamed it to be. Sensei might kill him though.


	4. A Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lelouch and Suzaku remember that they are technically still kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in school and I'm busy with class , work and school clubs so I'll be a little slow! Thank you for all the kudos and bookmarks ! The formatting on here is weird and all my indents get taken out so I'm still trying to figure everything out.

"I still think that my brother and Kannon were secretly dating , there's no other way to explain it." Lelouch said as he finished chopping the vegetables and left them to boil in seasoning for a bit. They were making dinner in Suzaku's dorm with his make shift kitchen.  
Suzaku laughed and made space on the bed since the food was almost ready. " Are you sure it wasn't some random teenage fling?"  
Lelouch took out the steak tips and potatoes from the slow cooker and started serving the two of them along with the freshly cooked rice from the rice cooker. 

"Please, my bother didn't even like hugging people who weren't my mother, myself , Nunnally, and maybe, maybe Cornelia. Nonetheless sneaking off for hours at a time to come giggling back and blushing. My older brother, giggling and blushing. Blushing and wait for it... giggling." He scooted himself with his plate to his corner of the bed.

"Your brother giggling sounds like something out of a horror movie not gonna lie." How Suzaku was already on his second serving Lelouch will never know. They had started eating only a few minutes ago but Mr. Japanese Tarzan over here is never not running or jumping or whatever active people do so he just leaves it at that.

"Sometimes it felt like he didn't actually wanna bother to deal with politics to be honest. Like he's good at it but if he had a choice he would've taken an out."

"I mean, there's more cons than pros to being royal. Like obviously it's not like poverty is an issue, " Suzaku pauses thinking of his own situation and remembering how Sensei had always said to remember his blood is his blood and no outsider will ever truly take that away " well I mean in the sense that it's a little hard to be a royal not born out of wedlock or something and not have something to fall back on. Whether it be money , some sort of land , or someone with money or land willing to marry you for your name. But at the same time the moment shit hits the fan you're the main target of political games regardless of how young and innocent you are. And even though yeah the 'commoners' are in danger too, your humiliation is broadcasted to the masses and your face is so recognizable it's almost impossible to hide. But I guess I don't really need to explain that."

Lelouch thought to himself for a moment about what he would do if he had the option. If he could just be a public figure type prince who wouldn't have to worry about a crown or having to be married off to somebody. When Lelouch was little he was already focused on who he'd be courting once he became a teenager which was pretty much a one way path to marriage for Britannian royalty.  
First there was Wolfgang von Albert or Crown Prince Wolfgang of Germany. Who was about two years older than Lelouch. He remembered that before Suzaku got banned from the palace him and Suzaku would argue over who would be marrying Lelouch, and his mother would laugh and say that they were only about four and to sit and drink their juices. Wolf was always sweet, but he was very smart. Last Lelouch heard of him he was working on a refugee program to assist Japanese and Korean people who got away right before Britannia really put it's foot on the neck of the island and peninsula. He was sweet but he also could be very stubborn and that stereotypical "angry German" gene could come out of him when needed. He did a good job at making corrupt people believe that he was one of them and was using the refugee situation as political gain for public approval.

Then there was Princess Vittoria of Italy who was about the same age as Lelouch also, give or take her being a few months younger. She was similar to Lelouch in that they were both quiet and liked to read in the palace library or on the balcony. They both liked similar foods and from what Lelouch remembered he enjoyed spending time with her and even though he now knows that he wouldn't be attracted to her sexually, romantically he wouldn't have had much of a problem. Vittoria basically went into hiding from the public. She refused to get married to any older men and based off of tabloids she's been spending her time as a regular person , only being recognized occasionally. She lives her life as a rich Italian girl in France , and wants to keep it that way.

The last was oddly enough the guard to Empress Jiang Lihua of China. Xi was similar to Sensei in that he was born of nobility but was in the position of a protector and care giver. Since that's what his family has always been to the royal one. Xi was five years older than Lelouch and was Charles's way of solidifying the union between the Chinese Federation and Britania. 

But there was also a few old, old as in decades older men and women Charles considered. He looked at Lelouch as just the male version of his mother except even more "exotic" due to him being mixed. 

Charles never considered Suzaku to be an option. Suzaku marrying into the royal family would mean giving Japan some power within the Britannian empire.

Suzaku took both their plates and placed them on a nearby table and they cuddled for a bit while watching some TV show from the Homeland States. The HS was in North America and so the accents were a little different than what Suzaku was used to.  
"You think that they had to take a bunch of pee breaks?"  
"Suzaku what?"  
"What? They're old. You got four old ladies in the lead aren't they gonna need to take a lot of pee breaks? Also what if the oldest one passes away suddenly? What are they gonna do like ... replace her? Kill her character off?"  
"Suzaku this show is from 1980 something the only one that isn't dead is the one that plays the stupid one."  
"Are you telling me most of the people on this show are dead?" Suzaku said sitting up slightly.  
"Pretty much yeah" Lelouch shrugged absent mindedly.  
"Welp now I'm depressed"  
"You're clinically depressed with PTSD and anxeity , I think 'now' is just a little too late."  
"Listen JoJo or Kelly Clarkson ,I don't friggin' remember ,either way shut up" Lelouch earned a light smack of a pillow and he laughed slightly and blew his hair out of his face.  
Suzaku responded by grabbing Lelouch and threatening to smother him with so many "loves and kisses" that he never have that smug look on his face ever again. They wrestled around for a bit, meanwhile Llyod and the one and only samnin-... ninmurai-... Sensei had quitely opened the door with his unauthorized-by-the-school-but-authorized-by-him key. Which resulted in him walking in on Suzaku on top of his kind-of-son in bed which then led to Suzaku yelling "ow" in Japanese God knows how many times as he was swiftly moved to the ground leaving behind a very stunned and confused Lelouch.

In Japanese Sensei very quickly turned to his baby Emperor and chastised him. "Suzaku what do you think you were doing? If you're suicidal now I can inform you that there's much less painful ways to go about this."  
"I'm not! How was I supposed to know you'd walk in here! You could've knocked you know I could've been naked!" Suzaku , although in pain, feeling comfortable hearing and speaking in his native tounge again.  
"As much of a horror as that would be, what were you doing on top of Lelouch?"  
"Nothing , god you're so yell-y." He said half in Japanese, half in English.  
" You are a little yell-y Tenshi." Llyod said taking some pieces of potatoes and steak out of the slow cooker.  
Tenshi had his usual high long, as in his hair down goes slightly past his waist long, ponytail while wearing his usual "i'm-off-the-compound" attire that consisted of a black dress shirt and black dress pants and shoes. His tall frame slightly bent over to get a better reach at Suzaku on the floor. He was as pale as ever and honestly had not aged much. He still had the same sticking features he had in his teens/early twenties as he does in his now late thirties. He looked sad in the eyes, and tired. But still the man that once was plastered everywhere as Aiko's kuudere boyfriend that teenage girls would sacrifice their own parents to date at least once. Tenshi just yelled shut up in Japanese at his Britannian friend and slapped Suzaku upside his head for snickering. Tenshi finally paused and realized that he was finally seeing Lelouch up close after almost six years. Last he saw him he was oddly hiding in the bushes. Him and his mother have the whole tenshi-in-the-bushes thing in common. Either Aiko pushed him in them or he was making sure her children were safe in them. He's glad he learned how to hide in bushes in his training growing up. Really , it's necessary.  
Lelouch still looked kind of the same. He's gotten taller and just looks like a teen instead of a middle schooler. His eyes are clearly different but he just assumed that it was some sort of cosmetic trick to look just white instead of mixed. He looked less like his mother this way. He even has hints of a lighter brown in his hair which he assumes is just something out of a box. Still he knows that's without a doubt his Lelouch.  
"How are you Lelouch?"  
Lelouch shrugged, "Fine I guess, the Ashfords treat us well."  
"And Nunnally?"  
"She's learned to wheel her chair on her own now but the Ashfords are giving her an electronic one for Christmas. The doctor wanted her to learn how to wheel comfortably on her own before moving onto something else. "  
Tenshi nodded his head, "If you ever need anything, know that I will do whatever."  
Lelouch nodded in return and grimmanced at the light kick and "stop being a baby" remark in Japanese that Suzaku was given midway through him getting up. But it felt nice getting a taste of what it would've been like to have a father. He remembers a faint memory of him being about three years old and snuggling onto the chest of Tenshi with his mother doing something similar at the Kagame Manor on the Kururugi compound. Charles had gotten cocky and figured his mother would have zero interest in choosing some bodyguard over an Emperor of the largest empire in the world so he allowed them to live at the Kururugi compound while she worked on the last album to give the Japanese people a little something to be happy about. Lelouch never forgot that feeling of feeling safe and loved. Or the sounds of the birds and insects outside and the fan softly blowing in the background. Or the trees that were slowly changing color and the way that Suzaku's friends the monkeys sat and swung around. Tenshi would stroke both of their heads ,and softly speak to Aiko in Japanese getting updates on what the empire was up to and also small things like "I'm pretty sure that salt is the only seasoning that they know" and "I thought they learned how to season to brag about how much money they have as rich people in like , the 1800s or something...what happened?"  
The best naps he had ever gotten were on Tenshi Sensei's chest between the warmth, the smell and the feeling his chest gave when he spoke. That and the love, something that Charles seemed incapable of giving. Nunnally had napped along side Tenshi a few times but never as a whole family, with their mother, like Lelouch did .  
He was like a father to him but Lelouch wasnt sure if he felt comfortable to call him that since that word ended up equating to "man who willingly puts his children in danger and could careless about what horrors could come to them and might actually take pleasure out of it and was probably tempted to be the one to do it himself". Tenshi didn't deserve that, the name translating to angel suited him. 

"Llo this child will be the death of me."  
"Your temper that will sooner or later cause hypertension will be the death of you" Llo said in-between bites of his food. He hadn't eaten in awhile and Lelouch apparently knew how to cook very well because this meat was perfectly seasoned and tender.  
Suzaku pouted and sat on his desk. "Why don't you love me?"  
"Because I hate you." Tenshi ignored Suzaku fake crying and lamenting about "what happened to the Kagame family loyalty" and took a plate of his own. He sat on the bed along side Lelouch which earned him a slight lean towards him from Lelouch. Lelouch has surprisingly hardened even moreso over the past few years. He hopes Lelouch is telling the truth about the Ashfords being decent people. If not, he'd say that he was going to jail but honestly, no one would know that it was him.  
"Where is your progress report Suzaku?"  
"I didn't get one."  
"That's because it's online you can pull it up on your phone" Suzaku threw a nearby small plush at his boyfriend's head.  
Tenshi reached out his hand and moments later, begrudgingly, the phone was in his hand and looked he into the Ashford student portal app to see what Suzaku's been up to. Surprisingly , even with all of Suzaku's responsibilities, he's an honor roll student so far. Which shocked even Suzaku.  
"Wait you didn't check your progress report?" Lelouch snorted.  
"I figured I was doing okay-ish I didn't realize I was actually doing well." Which earned him a lecture on being focused on his studies and paying attention to what's going on with his grades.  
"Llo, Are you even paying attention to what this kid is doing?"  
Llyod choked slightly after suddenly being addressed in the middle of eating some of Lelouch's cookies from his home studies class. "Y-yeah see he's good! He's a good Knightmare pilot , a good student, a little horny but honestly he gets that from his mother"  
Suzaku gave an odd shriek of horror and Lelouch just chuckled at his boyfriend's discomfort. 

Eventually they left, Suzaku leaving to go to the lab with Llyod, Tenshi going back to the shrine to help Yumi with her homework and Lelouch to handle another mission as zero. Suzaku and Lelouch had to take up their adult responsibilities once more but for a moment they were two (In two months or so for Lelouch) sixteen years olds doing sixteen years old things. It was nice. Lelouch hoped that six years from now when Nunnally is sixteen that she will be able to experience that all of the time.


	5. The Plight of an Older Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schneizel struggles with loss and Kanon stands by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't noticed yet some of the characters still have a lot of their personality traits while also being far more empathetic than cannon.

Kanon had to listen to his favorite royal sigh for the fifteenth time within this hour. Really, he counted. Schneizel sat at his desk in his room at the Britannian palace in Area 11. He watched as the half German prince ruffled his hair in frustration reading the ridiculous report brought to him just that morning. An eleven named "Zero" had took it upon himself to fight against the Britannian occupation of Japan. Quite frankly he was pleasantly surprised that it happened this soon but at the same time he really didn't feel like having to deal with the work that came with faking to care about the protection of the Britannian foot on the neck of the island. Britania would be stronger if it actually retreated back into the main island in the west and then the North American Homeland States. More stablity, an even better economy, and happier people, meaning less civil wars and rebellions.  
This "colonize the whole world" thing was just a disgusting ego trip by his father and his grandfather. This whole thing was economically devasting in the long run and not to mention that the unwarranted cruelty and genocide was not exactly...human. If he is to be king, if anything happens to his older brother , one of the first things he would do is slowly pull out of Asia and North Africa. Trade was actually more profitable than the borderline enslavement going on in several colonies. That and contrary to what many would believe, Schneizel had a heart. He felt bad for his older brother Ody, he was basically the Tzar Nicholas II: the second coming. He knows he has no business being crown prince, doesn't even want to be crown prince, and yet here he was. They both knew Schneizel was the better choice. Then Guine , the crown princess, was kind of a racist bitch who drunk the "we are God's gift to non-Britannian kind" Kool-Aid. Schneizell would rather not have someone so insecure that they rely on their royal name and white supermacy to feel a little bit better about themselves. The next in line for the crown would be him, and so long as nothing happened to him it thankfully wouldn't go to that moron Clovis. Times like this makes him sit and wonder what his only liked baby brother would be like if he had been allowed to grow older. He was proud and smart as a kid but in the best way. Watching him outwit their father at only six years old was a wonderful past time that he will always miss.  
"My Prince, maybe you should take a break. I don't like it when you work in your quarters either, this should be a place where you relax." Kanon slipped Schneizel's tie loose and went to put it away in the extravagant tie compartment within his closet. Schneizel had only been wearing a simple designer suit for that day and his blazer had been put away the moment he threw it in the floor in between one of his many sighs.  
Schneizel went ahead and took off his dress shirt and put it away himself and then changed into his comfortable house clothes sent to him by the most recent PR box from some Italian designer. It was just a pair of overpriced grey harem sweatpants and then a darkish mint green knit sweater to match. The moment he changed into something so comfortable was the moment Schneizel declared himself dead to the world until it was mandatory to leave his room.  
Schneizel snuggled into his blankets and put on a movie to watch while having Kanon turn off any artificial lights and light the candles and the fireplace. It was only about 17:35 , so he wasn't going to sleep just yet but he missed the comfort of being wrapped up in his bedsheets.  
"Are you settled My Prince?" Kanon asked turned to Schneizel who was mid taking out his last eye contact.

"I'm all set Kannon" 

Kanon sighed in relief and flung his favorite pillow that had been stored on the sofa at his boyfriend's head , threw his hat on the ground, and slipped out of his uniform and into Schneizel's old sweater from high school.  
The blonde laughed at Kanon's sudden shift in demeanor now that he was off the clock and made space under the bedsheets as his boyfriend of six years now wiggled into them while sighing in relief of no longer having to keep up the act of the perfect royal maid to the third running crown prince.  
Schneizel went ahead and wrapped his arms around Kannon while stretching a bit, thankful that Kannon had locked the door right before joining him in bed so that neither of them would have to get up. They were each other's first everything. And they had done a good job of keeping their relationship a secret. The most the tabloids picked up on was them sleeping with each other but it was reduced to just "that one really pretty Earl that watches over the second prince is really easy access cause he's always there so they scandalously sleep with each other sometimes to blow off steam" thing. Which was fine by them since that causes little to zero uproar than it does for them to be known in a very serious relationship. Both were twenty-four years old now so soon they'll have to reveal that Schneizel is dating a non-royal, but they'll enjoy their peace for now.  
Schneizel smiled fondly to himself remembering the one time Lelouch had been around seven years old and he almost walked in on something fairly traumatic that his sixteen years old self had been doing with Kanon when they came home from school a little early. Thank God for his fast reflexes that he learned while fencing or else Lady Marianne would have kicked his ass one, for forcing her to explain to Lelouch what he saw and two for being a sixteen year old kid in a sexual situation with another sixteen year old kid. And she would have been right to be mad about both.  
He missed his Japanese relatives every single day. Nothing, not his father's emotional and physical abuse, not being forced to grow up much faster than most kids, not his mother's lack of affection, absolutely nothing is more traumatic than the day he stumbled out of the main palace in Britannia with Lelouch's barely breathing, tiny body in his arms for the world to see, only to feel him take his last breath before he could get him any help. He still thinks that it was without a doubt his father that killed those three. He wasn't entirely sure what his reasoning was but his father doesn't need a reason to be worse than Satan himself. He still had the phantom feeling of his baby brother in his arms randomly throughout the day. Like every spiritual entity was taunting him. He still had random panic attacks at the mere mention of going back to the main palace, or like the time he accidentally found one of Lelouch's old books, Tolkien's The Hobbit, his baby brother's absolute favorite , tucked into the couch of the current room he's laying in about a year after their deaths.  
He responded so poorly that they had the couch removed from his room but still kept in storage because he wasn't ready to part with it either. He keeps the book on his bookshelf, on the lower shelf where Lelou would typically keep his books in his older brother's room. He had found one of Nunnally's old dolls about two years after their deaths also and one of Marrianne's journals in Japanese. He kept both in a keepsake box tucked in the back of his closet where only he and Kanon would know of. Schneizel couldn't walk through certain parts of the three palaces either. The portraits of them were too much. He did keep photos of them, but most are in the keepsake box. He only has two sitting out in his room. That's as much as he could possibly handle. And he hasn't gone to therapy because his father refused him access. Charles would love if he went off the deep end, and that's what keeps him from doing so. Pettiness, his love of Kanon, and his knowledge that the three would want him to move on and be happy and that they would be devastated to hear that he ended his time living far too early.  
" Nizel you're thinking too much again." Schneizel jumped at the sound of Kanon's voice and the feeling of him running his fingers through his hair.  
He sighed for a moment before he voiced his next thought. "It's October"  
"And?" Kanon asked but he already knew where this was going.  
"Nunnally would've been ten already, Marrianne would've been thirty-six and Lelouch would've been turning fifteen in two months"  
"Schneizel we do this every year" he sat up a bit to address him better.  
" I... I know Kanon but I can't stop thinking about it. Nunnally should be whining at me for money for nonsense, Lelouch should be barging into my room unannounced ranting at me to stop harrasing every suitor he has while ending it with a dig at Clovis and Marianna should be teasing me about my hidden relationship with you and Charles should be burning in the deepest most darkest most horrific layer of hell. "  
"I know Schneizel" Kanon empathetically sighed out while rubbing his boyfriend's back. Honestly he missed the three of them too. He missed watching Lelouch occasionally beating his big brother at chess and the banter that would follow. And sweet little Nunnally bouncing around the palace in her favorite pink dress while pouting about how she wished she had "pretty pink princess hair like Kwanin". Or Marianne occasionally cursing out Charles and hearing her sing in the Japanese family's private kitchen in between her teasing him for his very obvious, to everyone who knows them, crush on the second prince.

She always had the best advice and would nurture them in the way that their own mother's refused to. Ody would even sit in their kitchen munching on whatever Japanese snack Marianne had made telling her about his struggles with his crown prince duties and gushing over whatever girl of the week. 

Schneizel finally collected himself and snuggled closer to his love. "I don't get how you put up with me."  
"Your filthy rich, one of the most powerful men in the world, and the sex is okay-ish"  
"Okay-ish?" , Schneizel snorted out loudly and promptly swung the nearest pillow at his boyfriend's head. Resulting in pink hair going askew and a fit of giggles from the slightly younger man. "I'll remember that for next time , maybe I've been to tender with you Earl."  
Kanon rolled his eyes and became somber again , "Just remember that your lost family would want to see you happy. You are allowed to mourn occasionally, but you cannot stay in mourning. Know that they'd want to be remembered , but not a part of your cause for pain."  
Schneizel nodded his head and gestured for Kanon to lie back down but on his chest this time.  
They both went back to watching whatever movie was on and Schneizel absentmindedly played with Kanon's hair. "Thank you Kanon."  
"For what?"  
"For always grounding me when I float away."  
"There's no need to thank me , I love you. That's what lovers do, right?" He picked his head up to make eye contact. He's never not going to love these seemingly small moments when they are alone, with nothing but the crackle of a fire place and the soft murmur of a TV in their presence. Without Schneizel's impenetrable wall up and his faux lack of emotion inorder to protect himself, his family , and the crown.  
Schneizel gave him a very, very , rare smile and nodded his head. He whispered an "I love you" to Kanon before falling asleep for the night.


	6. Plans

Lelouch had thought about killing off each of his older siblings who weren't Schneizel one by one, but honestly he just couldn't. He needed a way to get to the throne for his plan to work , but Odysseus didn't deserve to die and would most likely back down once presented with the option to jump ship. Guinevera would just need to be told that some older Britannian aristocrat was available and on his death bed and she'd run towards that far faster than the throne, family pride or not. His other siblings were also not to worry about much. He knew his siblings so well that honestly manipulation was easier than killing them. In Britannian law, once one refuses the throne there is no such thing as fighting to get it back.  
So killing them was unnecessary, and with his Geass and his already well groomed manipulation tactics, killing them would just be stupid. Nunnally also would be far too upset about their deaths, half siblings or not, racist or not, she still had an attachment to them and Lelouch would be lying if he said that he didn't also. Plus Ody had a soft spot in Lelouch's heart. He's always known that his eldest brother would rather be running his own life and not carrying on a torch that he found to be burning way too hot for his hand's comfort.  
Lelouch had taken off his Zero helmet, with the rest of the uniform still on, and reclined into the chair of his now shut off except for basic functions Knightmare. He had taken up the strategy of giving an example of bravery and resistance to each district that they have been in so far. That then triggers the people in that district to riot and revolt. And just as expected his brother combats it by giving more rights to that specific area to subdue the riots , which encourages other areas to do the same. 

Charles is very much not happy about it though.

Which was a plus in his book.

Lelouch has finally left his Knightmare and went back into his room at the Ashfords. He quietly closed the door, worried that his wards would hear him come in late. Not only that but Lelouch had slept over Suzaku's dorm the other day to help him study for his exam and he's been actively running away from and hiding from Milly ever since.  
He successfully changed out of his clothes into his purple knit sweater and he didn't bother to put on pants because quite frankly he was mad at the existence of them of currently. He even snuggled into bed , turning on the tv to watch some old show he's seen a thousand times, loving the fact that C.C wasn't home today and he could care less why. He really thought that he had successfully avoided the blonde haired monster but unfortunately the door busted open but not loud enough to wake her parents and Milly promptly locked the door and moved a chair in front of it to throw Lelouch off if he tried to escape and before Lelouch knew it Milly yanked the sheets off of him so that she could wrap herself into them and magically had Lelouch's strawberry ice cream that he had been saving in his personal mini freezer/ fridge. 

"Tell. Me. What. Happened." She ennounciated while slapping his left leg with both of her palms. 

"Mill-"

"Did you do it? Oh my God Lelouch you're like twelve my dad would loose his mind. Wait did you? What did you guys do? You had to have done something because you kept running away from me but at the same time I've seen Suzaku in grey sweatpants , I don't think you'd be able to run after-"

"Milly!" Lelouch has no idea why he tried to delay the inevitable.

" No no see me being a full grown eighteen year old woman he's far too young for me so don't even worry about it."

Lelouch sighed dramatically and flopped down backwards onto the rest of the bed , looking up at the ceiling, " Milly we didn't do anything, I helped him with his studies for his math class, then we made food and watched a bunch of old really bad Homeland movies and then we fell asleep, got breakfast in the student cafeteria, and I went on with the rest of my day".

Milly got very quiet for a moment , Lelouch sighed internally in relief. Milly's face suddenly became very serious and she leaned over Lelouch to meet him face to face. They stared at each other for a moment.

"So when you say sleep, do you mean sleep, or- " ,she paused , "Sleep" she said holding the ee's while wiggling her eyebrows.

"Who slept with who now?" 

The two looked up to see Milly's dad who not so magically got the door open because Milly is an idiot and didn't actually lock the door. He stared at the chair that was now laying on the floor after having been knocked over when he opened the door.

Milly's dad's blonde hair had been tosseld from playing with it while working in his study and his glasses were hanging off of his pajama shirt. 

Lelouch pushed Milly away from him and quickly sat up glaring at his basically older sibling. "No one slept with anyone your daughter's just a pyscho fujoshi." 

"Ah yes well , we knew that didn't we" he went ahead and picked up the chair and sat in it backwards.

"What's a fukioshi?"  
"A Fujoshi? It's a Japanese term for girls obsessed with gay men and like locking them in rooms and asking for far too much personal information."  
"That's made up" Milly said accusingly.  
"It is not! It's not my fault the only Japanese word you can speak is 'konnichiwa' and even that is a struggle for you. "  
"You're right it's your father's Lelouch" Mr. Ashford chuckled for a bit, "and Milly it fits you to a tee. I used to study what was popular among Japanese teens for school in the nineties and you'd be right along with some of them drawing comic books about pretty boys being in love with each other."  
Milly frowned, "what's so bad about pretty boys loving each other?"  
"Nothing it's just that these pretty boys would like a little bit of privacy and not to be used for your fetish you freak" Lelouch hit Milly with a nearby pillow resulting in him being beaten with an even bigger one for a good ten to fifteen minutes.  
Mr. Ashford finally grabbed Milly and threw him over his shoulder. Wincing a bit and missing his youth and when it was easier to just throw his daughter in a play pen and play "jail" with her.  
"Good night Lelouch, get some rest it's late" and with that Mr. Ashford closed the door after motioning for Lelouch to lock it.

Which he did.

When he climbed back into bed he groaned at his phone suddenly vibrating , knowing that it must be Milly attempting to berate him from a distance but instead he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a request for a video call from Suzaku. P

" 'zaku?" Lelouch answered.

"Hey! I know it's late but I couldn't sleep...I mean if you're too tired that's okay."

"It's fine, I just kicked Milly out"

"She thinks we did it doesn't she?"

"A little bit."

"I wish."

"Crown Prince Suzaku Kururugi of fucking Japan."

"I'm joking , geez...kinda."

"And now I'm hanging up."

"Wait!" Suzaku laughed out. "I'm messing with you, did she tackle you again?"

"Practically , yes."

"Well what did you say?" Suzaku asked , sitting up a bit from his position in bed.

"That I'm teenage pregnant what do you think I told her?"

"If we're gonna have a baby can we name her Asuka from Evangelion?"  
"Absolutely not I'm not indulging in your strange obsession with Mecha animes Suzaku"  
"Lelouch come on our life is like a Mecha anime for babies"  
"No. Also I'm clearly not pregnant for multiple reasons."   
"Asuka is a pretty name."  
"Suzaku stop it."  
"But if we have a boy we can name him Shinji."  
"I'm not pregnant."  
"And I got a raise recently and I'm sure the Ashfords won't mind giving us a place until we get on our feet."  
"Kururugi."  
"And we can make a cute little nursery , I hope the baby has your eyes, purple eyes a so cool."  
"I'm breaking up with you."  
" And Nunnally would be happy to know that she's an aunt , you know how much she loves babies."   
"I should've gotten with Wolf."  
Suzaku suddenly become fake serious and tried to put on his best stern face through the smile that was trying to break out. "Don't even joke like that."  
Lelouch ignored him and sighed and laid back in bed mildly dramatic, "We would've moved to Germany and the German royal palace is so beautiful."  
"Lelou."  
"That big pretty white and gold building and all those winding gardens."  
"Lulu."  
" And those gorgeous paintings in the ceiling and all those chandeliers."  
"How is that any different from-"  
"And my God have you seen Crown Prince Wolfgang lately he's gorgeous."  
"Lelouch."  
" He's so tall and that long blonde hair and those piercing green eyes."  
Suzaku grunted loudly.  
" And did you see those tabloid pictures of him at the beach? I could die!"  
"Lelouch Lamperouge I swear to God if you don't-"  
Lelouch chuckled to himself but didn't respond with "I know you've always been jealous of him" since he wasn't sure if the call would be tapped and clearly neither did Suzaku.   
Wolf and Suzaku would nonstop argue over who was going to be Lelouch's husband. Vitt would kind of just watch and giggle in the background. Not really interested in arguing except the quiet "hey" when they'd insinuate that she wasn't even an option because Lelouch would catch cooties and die if he got with a girl.  
When they were all around six (well Wolf was about eight) they'd frequently get into these arguments resulting in Lelouch rolling his eye and explaining how he was his own person and could choose on his own because he's not an idiot like his half Italian brother Clovis. Not because he was half Italian but because he was an idiot. He'd give Italian people more credit.  
Wolf and Suzaku actually really liked each other and would play with each other on their own , but Lelouch was apparently someone worth fighting for and over. Suzaku would insist that he was destined to be with him because their mother's were childhood best friends in a beloved girls group and Wolf would argue that his palace had a better library and Lelouch had always loved to read.   
Lelouch's mother would always bud in and tell them to go play and that little kids shouldn't be thinking about marriage.   
Lelouch laughed softly and turned to look back at his boyfriend. "He's been working out is all."  
"I've been working out!" Suzaku yelled out slightly offended.   
" Yeah but he's older that makes him hotter than you by default."  
"That's just what predators teach children as an excuse to allow ephebophilla to run rampant in our society."  
"Someone's been paying attention in our sociology class."  
"He's old that means he'll die soon."  
"Suzaku he literally just turned eighteen."  
"Eighteen would be elderly in like 1402."  
"That's not how average life expectancy works and you know it."  
Suzaku repeated back what Lelouch said in a nasally , agitated voice to tease him and Lelouch just sighed and smiled a bit.  
"Just admit you're jealous."  
Suzaku scoffed and sat up. "Of what? Mr. Look at me I got long hair like an Elf from the Lord of the Rings but then I'm shredded muh."  
"You're making it very hard not to jump ship and switch from kobe beef to wurst."  
"You know why it's called wurst? Cause it's worse."  
Lelouch choked on his ginger ale, forever missing their old royal friendship group because Wolf needed to hear that because Lelouch needed to watch the nonsense that would ensue from it.  
"Besides what makes you so sure he'd wanna be with you."  
Lelouch snorted, "I'm stunning for starters, I'm amazing at political strategy, legally a genius, I'm great with children and again I am the visual of what God intended for the angels in heaven and even Lucifer himself to look like."  
"Wow, so humble." Suzaku said dryly and then laughed at Lelouch flipping his hair.   
They spoke for a little while longer until Lelouch fell asleep in the middle of their call. Suzaku did notice that Lelouch seemed extra exhausted lately.


	7. Ronin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten struggles with his mental health and coping with the past and the present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to release this over a month ago I'm a mess.

Aiko had been waiting for him on the roof while he went and got their lunches. Kururugi's royal academia had the nicest cafeteria in the country. And it was tempura shrimp and lobster day, Aiko's favorite. He ran up the stairs knowing that he'd get yelled at if he took too long and quickly opened the door to the roof. Suddenly the mood shifted before he got to announce his presence. Aiko wasn't wearing her black , red and gold school uniform anymore. She was wearing this big purple Britannian royal dress. Her hair was different too. No longer the bug pigtails with some sort of Sanrio character elastic ponytail holder with a small plushy attached any longer. The sky was the color of blood red, with grey smoke looming over. Aiko turned around to face him but before she could speak she was shot down and fell from the roof. Ten tried to push her aside, and then catch her but for whatever reason he just moved in slow motion while everything around him moved so quickly. He suddenly was standing over her body, that laid across Nunnally's on the stairs of the main staircases of the main Britannian palace . The only words spoken throughout the whole dream was a hushed whisper from the dead Aiko's mouth "failure". 

Ten woke up in a sweat, hyperventilating and frantically pushing his bedsheets off of him. He had been yelling and sobbing in his sleep again. His throat was hoarse and he was still crying. He reached over to his bedside table and downed the cup of water that sat there. Ten placed his head in between his hands and tried to focus on his breathing to calm himself down. 

After a few moments he collected himself. These night terrors aren't anything new. He was horrified by his own failure to protect the Japanese crown and to protect his family. Charles was a father to no one. Lelouch and Nunnally were his children. Aiko was his wife. It might not be biologically , and for Aiko it was legal, but that was his family. He accepted these dreams and the constant misery that he lived in as a soft punishment for what he's done. He most definitely doesn't want to know what his ancestors have been thinking of him. 

Ten went ahead and took his sleeping pills to black out for the next few hours. 

Once he woke again it was morning. He did his usual routine. 

Walk through the house to make sure that all the servants were doing what they were supposed to be doing. 

Ensure that the princess had woken up and is doing her home lessons after breakfast. 

Meditate outside. 

Eat to keep his energy up .

Another check in with the servants.

Gain Intel of the latest news pertaining to Britannia from one of his men. 

Spend some time with the princess.

Call the prince to make sure the Britannian government hasn't killed him. 

Mediate inside.

Clean the ancestors room within the Kagame home. 

Pray to the mother of Kururugi. 

Have dinner with the princess.

But the princess to bed. 

Return to his room while forcing himself not to think of who he used to return to this room with. .

Attempt to not go out and see for himself what his children were doing. 

Lay down in bed.

Attempt to sleep for hours.

Fall asleep.

Have a night terror.

Have a panic attack.

Self loath.

Take a bunch of sleeping pills to black out.

And then do it all over again the next day.

God what he'd do to be dead instead of Aiko.

He only keeps living for the sake of all four of the kids and to protect what little is left of Japan. His stolen home.

But for whatever reason this next day was a bit different. That reason being Lelouch appearing on the Kururugi compound. 

"Tenshi Sensei?" Lelouch has worn a brown lace front wig perfectly laid down with green eye contacts and altered some of his facial features with makeup 

Ten had jumped, confused as to how this stranger got onto the compound without any issues , also how they snuck up on him , also who the shit is this?, also...is that Lelouch?

Lelouch swiftly walked in and closed the porch door. It was just him and Sensei in one of the many small TV rooms. "Sensei I need your help."

He quickly straightened up, "Of course Lelouch, with anything." 

"I... Nunnally thinks it's best I go in this school trip to Homeland. It's a trip to an amusement park there. I wasn't going to go because in worried about her but wheelchair or not she's a bit scary when determined. I was hoping you'd pay extra watch to her as I'm gone ." 

Tenshi laughed at how nervous Lelouch seemed to be to ask. As if Tenshi wouldn't give up anything in the world for the both of them. "Of course Lelouch. I'll use that prince who has brainwashed you into believing he'd be a good choice in a boyfriend as an excuse to be on campus more. "

Lelouch laughed, understanding that Tenshi loved Suzaku with all his heart, he just liked messing with him. "Thanks, if you can update me through code through said prince that would be great. I still remember our codes from when I was little.

With that, Lelouch quickly left to avoid being seen by anyone. Thankfully Charles is an idiot and figured having his subordinates watch over Lelouch and Nunnally to ensure there's no contact between them and anyone in the past was a waste of time. He thought fear was enough. Quite frankly Charles was an awful king, he only ran things seemingly well because he's cruel but in all actuality he wasn't as good as running an Empire as he thinks he is. He was like the opposite on the stupidity spectrum for running a nation in comparison to Lelouch's distant cousins the Romanovs. He was stupidly cruel and invasive instead of stupidly naive and distant. Too much of one thing, with refusal to learn from past mistakes, results in disaster. If Charles was playing chess he'd be the one throwing tantrums by flipping the board to the floor to force a retrial only to do the same thing again and again and again. 

Why would you treat your second eldest son like trash and cause him to hate the empire and side with the people you colonize? Especially since his eldest son had a less annoying "case if the Nicholas" and quite frankly if it wasn't for the fact that Schneizel was the one helping the crown prince behind the scenes , and he actually listened to him, history would just repeat itself. 

Why allow yourself to show open distain for the people you colonize and do everything in your power to disenfranchise them...at the expense of your empire's growth and stability?

Why kill off the most beloved faction of your family, the first racially mixed family created under the Charleston era, just because you're upset that people like them more than you and not to mention hope that they can be with one their mother actually loves while keeping the royal titles. And to stick it to your second eldest that has done nothing but be born.

Charles has made everyone hate him and he thinks that's a good thing.


	8. Schneizel's Refusal of Defeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schneizel's a little tired of being beaten down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm double uploaded as an apology lol. I'm having surgery soon so while I recover I might write. Also TW for panic attacks.

Schneizel downed more pills than an old person at this point. He rubbed his temples after taking his migraine medication and was forever thankful that Cornelia would have to take over royal tour duties for the month. It was usually him since the public liked him the most.

Well depending on how you define like.

If you like someone would you really bring up their dead baby siblings and step mother every time you see them? 

Yes he missed them.

Yes he knows Lelouch would have been sixteen next month.

Yes he knows of the auction of some of Lady Marianne's dresses.

No he doesn't think she'd like that "insert joke about how much she loved her dresses here". 

Yes he wonders how pretty Nunnally would've grown up to be.

No, he hasn't found love yet but he'd hope to be as good of a parent as Marianne was to him and her children. 

That part was half a lie and half the truth. 

In fact , said love had just kicked him the back of the knee. 

Schneizel turned around in the sheets to face him with a faux offended expression. "You dare kick not only a royal but a sick royal in the back of the knee?" 

Kanon laughed, "Well if you paid attention to me I wouldn't have felt the need to resort to violence. Besides I'm an Earl remember, the chances of us having the same distant relative is likely." He snuggled up to him and they both wrapped their arms around each other.

"It's good to know that I'm keeping up the family tradition of incest." 

" Don't forget the having a secret boyfriend part. Every good prince needs a secret boyfriend."

That earned a healthy chuckle out of Schneizel as he was turning on the tv which quickly turned into a grimance. "Please don't make me think of my father without clothing. "

"He's pyscho but he was handsome when he was younger. Plus I said a good prince , not just any."

"Kanon!" Who then got rolled off of Schneizel as he sat up , scooting away in horror. 

"I'm not saying I'd sleep with him it's just when he was younger he wasn't exactly ugly. His love for mass genocide made him look like an ill shapen, evil ,cartoon walrus with a powdered wig. " 

"Kanon."

"Oh quit being such a baby." Kanon swung a pillow at him and then laid back down. 

\----

That kid at that chess match could not have been Lelouch.  
Schneizel had gone to Ashford Academy to play chess with the students before they went off on their Homeland trip.It was his one event on the royal schedule for the month. But one kid...that kid. 

Who in the shit was that kid? 

Kanon watched Schneizel pace the room. Kanon is a bit in shock himself. That kid must have been playing some sort of cruel joke. 

Schneizel had explained to Kanon some weird science called "Geass" that could mess with one's mind that especially ran in the royal family. It's how they came to power to begin with and how they kept it for so long. So maybe their deaths were a mass hallucination. At least that's what his best friend was muttering to himself as he rambled on. 

There was a young orphan boy who had claimed to be Lelouch. That he had only stopped breathing in Schneizel's arms that day but came to in the royal hospital but Charles has demanded for him to be sent away to keep up the tragedy. It had turned out to be hoax, concocted by the people who ran the orphanage for a little fame and some money. The moment that they ran a DNA test it was over. Between his mother's Soft Alexandria's Genesis (her eyes were just purple, there's no actual AG ) and his father's distinct royal blood line, one can't simply fake to be Eleventh Prince Lelouch ví Britannia of the Charleston Era of all people. 

That whole situation tore Schneizel apart and he'd be damned to have to go through all of that again. 

But that kid...

He looks like Lelouch, had even slipped into royal dialect a few times, did the royal crossing of the legs for men (right foot forward , center facing left, left foot twisted around right ankle , toes facing opposite and with legs slightly open, not too much , not too little) , was ambidextrous , had the same exact birth marks, had on very, very good colored contacts that made his eyes look brown (they had to get good at spotting such things) and what absolutely haunted the two of them the most was when he won and said:

" 15 for Lelouie and 33 for Strudel, I'm catching up to you aren't I?"

There's no way in hell anyone else would know those nicknames or how many chess games they've played or especially who won how many times. 

But Kanon had to put that aside for now because Schneizel was quickly on the floor in the middle of a panic attack that hadn't been this bad since that day at the Grand Royal Palace when they , well might have, died. 

That little blind blonde girl in the wheel chair that came as Le- that kid walked out the room looked all to familiar. 

He even called her Nunnally.

Thank God no one else has been in that room because Schneizel almost immediately crumbled. 

"Schneizel I need you to breathe okay? Just slow down your thoughts, and drink some of this water okay? We'll figure this out. " 

If he didn't stop he was going to faint like he did the last time it got this bad. Schneizel never went to therapy per order of his father's ban for him gaining access to it, so everything that they know about Schneizel's mental health condition was based purely on educated guessing and research on how to handle things like anxiety, depression and panic disorders. All Kanon could really do was help him place his head between his knees, give him water, and talk him through it while rubbing his back and try to get him to regulate his breathing. 

That and to not start crying himself.

"Here come on, let's get to the bed instead of the floor okay?" 

They laid down for a few hours. They were wrapped up in a bunch of blankets after Kanon turned off the lights save for the small string lights that go across the windows. He didn't try to push Schneizel to talk and instead let him lay there and even eventually fall asleep. Later he stirred awake, face slightly swollen and eyes red, grimacing at how sore his body was. Kanon still waited until Schneizel was ready to talk.

"Do you believe me to be sane, Kanon?" 

"Well we know you aren't neurotypical. But if you're asking me if you hallucinated that whole thing I can reassure you that I saw it too."

Schneizel thought for a moment, worried that maybe he shouldn't be saying what he was about to say, "Kanon, that was them. I could feel Lel... I could feel his Geass. It was like a slight hum. He acted and looked just like fifteen year old him would. And that little girl in that wheel chair. Nunnally had fell down those stairs , with Aiko on top of her, you think that maybe... And Lelouch had fell down the steps but his ankle had only been hurt legs wise. There was a scar on that kids ankle. That little girl called that kid Lelouch, even referred to him as her older brother. His eye shape was a little off but remember when Lelouch has been playing with his mother's PR box and there was eyelid tape in there and he made his double eyelids look more like Charles and then did a funny impression of him? That's what that looked like. But it can't be. I felt him stop breathing, I saw him. He looked me in the eyes before closing his there is absolutely no way. "

"You mentioned Geass can cause hallucinations right? Maybe your father wanted to kill them, without killing them. Remember how he killed your dog when we were ten, but then suddenly instead of being torn in half your dog was fully whole staring at you confused as to why you were crying within the next hour. Maybe this is Fiddels Wurst part two. Just, far more horrific and morbid. And what he did with Fiddels Wurst was already morbid and horrific. " 

Schneizel clenched his fist realizing what his love had said was most likely true. That kid was without a doubt his Lelouch. The hum of Geass had confirmed it. That wasn't just any Geass, that was his bloodline's Geass. And that little girl had to be Nunnally, why she was blind he had no idea but that was his baby sister. She still spoke exactly the same, just with a regular Britannian accent. And Lelouch wouldn't have just taken in any random little girl named Nunnally and had her calling him big brother.

His father was going to get killed one day, and he'd pray to be the one to do it . That's the only way to be free of him. You can't exactly call the cops for domestic abuse on the Emperor. 

"I know this is a lot right now. But think. Why would Lelouch reveal themselves like this? Maybe he needs help? I know that it can't just be that he wants to come home . " 

"I... I think... He just wants me to know that they are there. To make sure Charles doesn't try to harm them any further and to know that they got to live. He is leaving on that trip soon. I'm sure he just wanted an extra layer of protection for Nunnally. That's the only thing that I can think of. And he knows the two of us would never say anything." 

Kanon nodded his head, processing everything. "Do you think you'll be able to see him again soon".

Schneizel sighed and buried his face into Kanon's neck. "I don't know. But I do hope so. There's rumor of another Zero attack tomorrow, hopefully it won't delay the children's trip since they leave two days from now. But as of right now I'm just going to take my sleeping pills so I don't look too awful for whatever nonsense is going to happen."


End file.
